Excitement!

I love Disney: Disney theme parks, Disney songs, Disney movies, Disney characters. I was 10 or 11 when they released The Little Mermaid and I fell so in love with the film. When it was released on video (Does that make me sound old? I still have the VHS in our family room) I watched it every day for months. I loved its successors Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King just as much. As time passed though, I was less and less impressed with the Disney animated movies. They were enjoyable but I wasn't counting down to their theatrical release and very few of them made it into my home video library.

A couple of days ago I received an email from Walt Disney Pictures announcing their newest animated movie, The Princess and the Frog. I went to the movie's website and hot dog!!! It looks like the Disney movies that I loved years ago!!


I guess at some point Disney stopped using hand animation for their films. I am not knowledgeable about animation so while I didn't know what the difference was, I did notice a difference and apparently wasn't as impressed by the new stuff. But The Princess and the Frog marks a return to hand drawn animation and I couldn't be happier!

Look at these images from the film. Aren't they gorgeous, magical, and everything wonderful that a Disney movie should be?



You can watch the trailer and several other videos about the movie on its website. The story is set in New Orleans and looks so delightful! It opens December 11 and I'm already looking forward to seeing it!

The Scratch Heard Round The World

Can you believe it??? A post two days in a row!!!

My brother and sister-in-law are expecting their first child (a baby boy!) in a couple of months and we are all very excited to have another baby in the family. I'm even more glad that it won't be me going through the experience of having a first baby again! ;) Every day is such a learning experience - I am grateful each night when I go to bed that I have one more day of "mom skills" under my belt.

My sister-in-law's baby shower is next week, although I actually sent her shower gifts with my parents when they visited them in June. My craft time is more limited these days, but I did want to make her a few things.

For my baby shower she made me a beautiful diaper cake. I wanted to do something similar for her and found the idea for a diaper wreath online. Not only is it less involved, but it's smaller too and easier to pack/ship.


She's decorating the baby's nursery in a safari theme with the dominant colors being khaki and white. You know I loved having an excuse to shop for some fabric to match! She's getting this set of burp cloths for the shower...


...and the baby's getting this snugglie blanket as part of his baby gift.


One of my cousins and his wife are expecting their first baby this fall and my best friend from college is expecting a baby girl this November. I love making baby gifts and my friends and family keep giving me excuses to do so!

Here's a picture of Charla from this morning. She's sporting a scratch under her left eye which we have dubbed "The Scratch Heard Round the World." Last night just before bedtime routine, A was bouncing her on his knee. She had her thumb in her mouth and the rest of her fingers on her face and somehow ended up scratching herself. The screaming and crying that followed was like nothing we've ever heard before!! I kept looking her over to try and figure out what was wrong, but this little mark didn't appear for a good 10 minutes. Thankfully she was much calmer by that point. We are sure grateful that all the crying and tears weren't because of something more serious!

She's kind of giving me puppy-dog eyes in the photo, but she really is just fine and a happy baby today!

Four Months Old!

It's too hot to sleep, so I'm finally making time to write Charla's four month post. Sorry for the blogging hiatus - I really would like to be better at blogging but it seems like life is so full and there just isn't time. One of these days I'm hoping to get back into posting more regularly though!

Charla is four months old!!!

Here's what you are up to at four months old, baby girl...

You weight 11 pounds, 1 ounce and are 23 1/2 inches long.

You're great at sleeping!! We put you to bed at 9pm and you usually sleep 9-10 hours. Then you get up and eat and go back to sleep until about 9:30am. You love sleeping in!

Your great nighttime sleep doesn't make for very long naps though. You take 3-4 naps a day but they are almost always 30 minutes long. We have tried so many things to get you to nap longer, but no matter what you are awake and ready to get up after a half hour. I'm finding that I do better with that fact when I don't try and fight it but just go with it (new theme for my life!).

You have mastered rolling from your back to your tummy. Sometimes you get stuck there (we call it "beached") - it's as if you forgot how to roll from your tummy to your back once you figured out the other half. You're working on getting the whole rotation though and we have no doubt you'll get it figured out before too long.

You've started sleeping on your tummy (like your mom). I almost had a heart attack the first night I walked in your room to check on you and found you on your tummy, face down in the mattress. I quickly touched you to make sure you were okay and rolled you over, only to have you roll right back onto your tummy. Your doctor assured us that you're strong enough to roll over/lift your head if you need a breath. It's so nice to let you choose your sleeping position and you look so sweet curled up on your tummy.

Your accuracy has really improved when you reach for your toys (or my hair - ha!). You love touching the pages in the book when we read to you.

You love going places! We run an errand or stop at a store every day since you enjoy being out and seeing new things. You are always very good - your big eyes just take everything in!

You love when Daddy plays airplane with you and you squeal with delight. This month you've discovered how to make high pitched squeaks and squeals - they make us laugh!

We can hardly believe that 4 months have passed already! We love and treasure you so much, Charla Grace!

Red, White, and Blue

We had a wonderful holiday weekend. A ran the Firecracker 5K in City Park on Saturday morning and Charla and I enjoyed cheering him on. My parents arrived for the weekend around lunchtime. You can bet Charla spent the weekend being held and loved on!! We stayed around home all day and grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner. That night we drove to a hill a couple of miles away from City Park and watched the fireworks from there. We woke Charla up for the outing so she was in her jammies. We're not sure if she actually saw the fireworks but she liked looking in their general direction!

Yesterday we stopped for donuts on our way to church. After church Charla took a nap so we went out for a`late lunch once she got up. My parents left for home late in the afternoon and we just hung out at home, enjoying the rest of the weekend.

We are so proud to live in the USA and are grateful to all the soldiers who have fought to make it such a great country!

Three Months Old

Charla is three months old!!

Charla, here's what you are up to at three months...

You weigh 9 pounds, 11 ounces - our growing girl!

You sleep through the night (an 8 hour stretch). Sometimes you are "screamy" in the early morning - anywhere between 4:00 and 5:30am. Other nights you sleep straight until 6:30 or 7:00am. No matter when you wake up, you always want to take another little nap after you've had your breakfast.

We think you are getting close to rolling over. You kick your legs into the air and then roll onto your left side, which is as far as you get right now.

You grab onto things so well! You can reach out for the rings on your activity gym and I found you holding the rings on your Spidey toy the other day. You love that Spidey guy!


You smile at anyone who smiles at you. Daddy and I get the biggest and best smiles, but you sure know how to charm others with your smiles too. Everyone says you smile with your eyes.

Your hair is getting a little longer and lots of people comment that it looks a little red. Except of course for the bald spot you've rubbed on the back of your head. :)

You are such a good baby! Your grandparents think you are so wonderful and well behaved when we go out with you - and you are!

You are still very, very active. Your arms are moving and your legs are kicking almost anytime you are awake.

You love when we read books. We have a bedtime story every night and I've recently begun reading to you more throughout the day. You like to look at the pictures in the books and listen to Mommy and Daddy read the story.

We're not sure how we feel about this, but you LOVE TV. If the TV is on you are captivated by it. We have to hang a blanket on your activity gym or point your bouncy seat away from it so that you look at other things! Even at church you love to watch the big screens.

We can't wait to see what this next month brings! We love you little girl!

Coming soon to a blog near you...

She'll be writing her own blog before we know it!

Two month recap

First trip to a restaurant - Red Robin

Four generations

First Mother's Day
Me and my girl

Ready for summer!

After her 2 month checkup and shots
8 lbs, 9 oz
22 inches

Hanging out during tummy time

What happens when Daddy dresses the baby

We have been busy the last couple of months!! As expected, there have been lots of firsts for Charla and for us as a family. Charla is such a sweet baby and a total joy 95% percent of the time (let's be honest - we all have our moments). In the first few weeks of her life I thought I'd never be able to leave the house and do "normal" things again. Instead I've developed a new normal and have found that I'm still able to do many of the things I did before I was a mom, they just may look a little different. We try to get out most days of the week and Charla is a great little shopping companion. She enjoys looking around the grocery store, Target, and Walmart and usually ends up falling asleep while we're shopping - which is great since it affords me a little more time to browse if I feel like it. In the past couple of weeks we've taken several day trips away from home and she has done amazingly well.

We are excited that summer is here and are looking forward to lots of evening walks, picnics and barbecues, and hopefully our first weekend away as a family. Happy Summer everyone!!